The Casimir energy of the rigid string with massive ends

The Casimir energy in the rigid string with massive ends is investigated. This system models the flux tube of finite thickness that connects the massive quarks. The string stiffness and quark mass give additive contributions to the Casimir energy, the second contribution being the same as in the Nambu-Goto string with massive ends. The string stiffness results in an additional positive contribution to the Casimir energy, however it alone does not compensate the negative Casimir energy in the Nambu-Goto string. Only common consideration of the string thickness and the quark mass enables one to get the positive Casimir energy, i.e. to remove the tachyon from the string spectrum.